<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_sjph-2016-0020_s_333_w2aab3b8b9b1b7b1aab1c15b1Aa"><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Globally, the number of immigrants is rising every year, so that the number of immigrants worldwide is estimated at 200 million. In Slovenia, immigrants comprise 6.5% of the overall population. Immigrants bring along to a foreign country their cultural differences and these differences can affect immigrants’ overall health status and lead to chronic health conditions. The aim of this study was to identify patients’ perception of general practitioners’ (GPs’) attitudes toward immigrants in Slovenia.</p></sec><sec id="j_sjph-2016-0020_s_334_w2aab3b8b9b1b7b1aab1c15b2Aa"><h3>Methods</h3><p>This study was based on the Qualicopc questionnaire. We used the questions that targeted patients’ experience with the appointment at their GP on the day that the study was carried out.</p></sec><sec id="j_sjph-2016-0020_s_335_w2aab3b8b9b1b7b1aab1c15b3Aa"><h3>Results</h3><p>There were no differences in GPs’ accessibility based on groups included in our study (p>0.05). Compared to the non-immigrant population, first-generation immigrants answered that their GPs were impolite (p=0.018) and that they did not take enough time for them (p=0.038). In addition, they also experienced more difficulties understanding their GP’s instructions (p&lt;0.001). Second-generation immigrants experienced more negative behaviour from GPs, and first-generation immigrants had more difficulties understanding GPs’ instructions.</p></sec><sec id="j_sjph-2016-0020_s_336_w2aab3b8b9b1b7b1aab1c15b4Aa"><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>There may be some differences in patients’ perception of GPs’ attitudes towards immigrants in comparison with the general Slovenian population. However, based on the perception of the immigrants that do benefit from the medical care it is not possible to judge the GPs’ attitudes towards immigrants as worse compared to their attitude towards the non-immigrant population. Indeed, there may be other reasons why the patients answered the way they did.</p></sec></abstract>

IntroductionGlobally, the number of immigrants is rising every year, so that the number of immigrants worldwide is estimated at 200 million. In Slovenia, immigrants comprise 6.5% of the overall population. Immigrants bring along to a foreign country their cultural differences and these differences can affect immigrants’ overall health status and lead to chronic health conditions. The aim of this study was to identify patients’ perception of general practitioners’ (GPs’) attitudes toward immigrants in Slovenia.MethodsThis study was based on the Qualicopc questionnaire. We used the questions that targeted patients’ experience with the appointment at their GP on the day that the study was carried out.ResultsThere were no differences in GPs’ accessibility based on groups included in our study (p>0.05). Compared to the non-immigrant population, first-generation immigrants answered that their GPs were impolite (p=0.018) and that they did not take enough time for them (p=0.038). In addition, they also experienced more difficulties understanding their GP’s instructions (p<0.001). Second-generation immigrants experienced more negative behaviour from GPs, and first-generation immigrants had more difficulties understanding GPs’ instructions.ConclusionThere may be some differences in patients’ perception of GPs’ attitudes towards immigrants in comparison with the general Slovenian population. However, based on the perception of the immigrants that do benefit from the medical care it is not possible to judge the GPs’ attitudes towards immigrants as worse compared to their attitude towards the non-immigrant population. Indeed, there may be other reasons why the patients answered the way they did.

Patients’ perception of differences in general practitioners’ attitudes toward immigrants compared to the general population: Qualicopc Slovenia

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Familiy Medicine, Poljanski nasip 58, 1000 Ljubljana,

Slovenian Journal of Public Health

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

POGLED PACIENTA NA RAZLIKE V ODNOSU ZDRAVNIKA SPECIALISTA DRUŽINSKE MEDICINE DO PRISELJENCEV V PRIMERJAVI S SPLOŠNO POPULACIJO: QUALICOPC SLOVENIJA

IntroductionGlobally, the number of immigrants is rising every year, so that the number of immigrants worldwide is estimated at 200 million. In Slovenia,...

	G1 n = 225	G2 n = 128	G3n = 1,588	p (G1 + G2)	p (G2 + G3)	P (G1 + G3)
The GP or staff acted negatively toward me in the past 12 months	11 (4.9%)	10 (7.8%)	53 (3.3%)	0.341	0.031	0.469
Other patients are treated better	9 (4.0%)	7 (5.5%)	35 (2.2%)	0.379	0.084	0.047
The GP disrespects me due to my ethnic background	1 (0.4%)	2 (1.6%)	11 (0.7%)	0.563	0.669	0.184
The GP disrespects me due to my gender	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.4%)	0.324	0.813	0.191

	G1 n = 225	G2 n = 128	G3 n = 1,588	P (G1 + G2)	P (G2 + G3)	P (G1 + G3)
Average age (in years)	51.50 (±13.76)	39.76 (±15.02)	50.31 (±17.28)	<0.001	<0.001	0.1
Education (the number of patients)				<0.001	0.025	0.025
• None or (pre)primary	108 (48.0%)	24 (18.8%)	470 (29.6%)
• Upper secondary	78 (34.7%)	72 (56.3%)	709 (44.6%)
• Post-secondary, non-tertiary, or higher	38 (19.9%)	32 (25.0%)	399 (25.1%)
• No information	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (0.6%)

Patients’ perception of differences in general practitioners’ attitudes toward immigrants compared to the general population: Qualicopc Slovenia

Article Category: Research article

Published Online: May 10, 2016

Page range: 155 - 165

Received: Aug 14, 2015

Accepted: Jan 21, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjph-2016-0020

Keywords
patients’ perception, general practitioners’ attitudes, immigrants, language barriers

© 2016 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Patients’ impressions of their consultations with their GPs on the days they filled-in the questionnaire. A chi-square test was used to compare different groups.

General characteristics of the study groups. A chi-square test was used to compare different groups.

Patients’ perception of differences in general practitioners’ attitudes toward immigrants compared to the general population: Qualicopc Slovenia

Article Category: Research article

Published Online: May 10, 2016

Page range: 155 - 165

Received: Aug 14, 2015

Accepted: Jan 21, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjph-2016-0020

Keywordspatients’ perception, general practitioners’ attitudes, immigrants, language barriers

© 2016 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Patients’ impressions of their consultations with their GPs on the days they filled-in the questionnaire. A chi-square test was used to compare different groups.

General characteristics of the study groups. A chi-square test was used to compare different groups.

Keywords
patients’ perception, general practitioners’ attitudes, immigrants, language barriers